


Somewhere to Belong

by LesbianLametron



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Canon Compliant, First Kiss, Love Confessions, M/M, Minor Hunk/Keith (Voltron), Shiro (Voltron)-centric, Zine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-12
Updated: 2019-03-12
Packaged: 2019-11-16 09:36:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,897
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18091877
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LesbianLametron/pseuds/LesbianLametron
Summary: During their last day on Earth, Shiro contemplates where his belongs in the war. He's happy to be captain of the Atlas, but he also his Voltron teammates. There's one person he misses more than the others, but he can't let himself think about them. What if he lets love in again and it only results in heartbreak? It takes Keith, of all people, to open his eyes to the reality they face. This was the last day they'd have on Earth before the final battle. What if he never got the chance to confess his feelings?





	Somewhere to Belong

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was originally part of the Atlas zine for Shiro's birthday. It's a free multiship zine and you can download it from the Shance Support Squad tumblr to see the rest of it!

There were so many things about this war that were so bittersweet. Shiro supposed that was the nature of being a “Defender of the Universe” and being at war. There was loss, there was change, and devastation of planets, but he knew that they were fighting for a cause that truly mattered. Keith’s official take over as the paladin and leader of Voltron had that same sort of feeling. Shiro was happy for him and a sense of pride stirred within him to see Keith truly acting like a leader. Those two years in the time lapse with his mother had truly helped him mature into the person Shiro always knew his friend could be.

Yet, it also left an emptiness inside of him. There was no longer a place for him as a paladin and a member of the team. Knowing what was best for the team, he realized it was time to step aside, but he missed being a paladin. There was nothing more thrilling and more noble. At the beginning, everyone had relied on him and now he had lost his place. He was happy that Allura had a lion to pilot and she fit well with the team. Maybe she was always meant to be a paladin like he thought he was, but things change. Shiro understood his role and tried his best to convince himself he was happy stepping aside. 

When they got back to Earth and Shiro became captain of the Atlas, he finally felt that sense of purpose he’d lost with Voltron. People depended on him again and looked to him as one of the primary leaders of the fight on Earth. He had a new team to lead and was starting to connect with them little by little. The very moment he took his place on the bridge, a satisfied smile spread across his face. 

Again, after the battle with Sendak had ended, the sense of emptiness creeped up on Shiro. Something was missing and, at first, he couldn’t place it. He had a team to lead, people depended on him again, they listened to him, and he was needed. With Atlas’ transformation he was a paladin again. He should feel happy and fulfilled. Yet there was a part of him that he’d been ignoring for sometime now. A part, that he repressed and told himself he was fine without. 

Adam’s death had hurt and opened old wounds that Shiro had hidden away deep inside himself. The hole that had formed when he left Kerberos has never truly been filled or healed. He put it aside to become part of a bigger purpose. Maybe he had been a little immature in that relationship too, he had been looking out for himself and his opportunities more than the two of them as couple. The death hurt like hell, but didn’t completely tear Shiro apart, because as harsh as it may seem, he had mourned Adam. Not in the death sort of way, but he understood that the ‘Adam’ chapter of his life had come to close. 

Shiro wished it could be that cut and dry though, but it wasn’t. The opening of romantic wounds had unlocked something else inside Shiro. It was a deep, aching, longing to be close to someone again, to love and be completely loved for the person he always was. It had been happening for some time now, but he’d been trying to pretend it wasn’t there. But it was, and sometimes became so hard to ignore. The loss of his place as leader had only strengthened that longing. He missed being with the team he’d come to call family, seeing them grow, seeing them discover new sides of themselves. And he missed…

...Lance. 

It was hard enough to admit to himself, because he knew once he opened up his emotions, they’d have total control over him. It was Shiro’s version of Pandora’s box, once he said it to himself, he couldn’t unsay it. Those feelings were out there and they would haunt him until he did something. Upon joining Voltron, he’d seen himself as the mentor to the other paladins. He always had that relationship with Keith, but as he got to know Lance, he felt that way with him too. Well, that’s how it began. 

Then he started to find himself wanting to grow closer to Lance in a way that no one else could. When did he miss the growing friendship between Lance and Keith? When did he miss Lance’s apparent bayard shift? Besides Keith, Lance was the only one he shared his true feelings with. Shiro trusted Lance  _ first  _ with the notion that something was wrong with him. Or, the clone version of him did that, but somehow the feelings were the same. He called out to Lance first in the Astral plane, just hoping that Lance could be the one to see the true him. 

But now, he was growing apart from that family, and the bittersweet emptiness returned like ever-persistent cold, lingering and annoying. He would deal with it, as he always did by throwing himself into planning their next move. People depended on him and tomorrow they would leave to fight, what they hoped would be the final battle. 

“Shiro.” 

Shiro had finished their briefing and got lost in thought. He hadn’t realized that Keith was the only other person left in the boardroom. “Did you need something?” 

“Come on Shiro, you know putting on that mask doesn’t work with me. I just wanted to say, maybe you take your own advice. You ordered us to take time for ourselves and spend it with those we love. Where you planning on including yourself in that order?” 

“Keith, I have a lot to go over.” 

Keith raised an eyebrow at him and shook his head. “Shiro,” the name was used in a scolding manner, the way Shiro had done with him so many times in the past. “You’ve always taken on everything, at times too much, and been the perfect leader. A role model to us all, but in that way, you’ve forgotten about yourself. You deserve a night off too.” 

“When did you become so wise?” Shiro cracked a smile and teased him like old times. Keith turning the tables on him like that made him feel nostalgic. 

“You kind of have to when you become a leader, right? A wise person once taught me that.” 

“Who could that have been?” 

“Some old guy.” A challenging smirk found its way onto Keith’s face as Shiro’s jaw dropped a little at the ‘old’ comment. 

“I'll show you ‘some old guy’!” Shiro challenged, matching Keith’s smirk. 

“Right, I’m sure you will. But seriously Shiro, if this is truly our last day on Earth, who would you want to spend it with? This could be your last chance to be free with them.” Keith didn’t expect Shiro to answer, but left him to think about it alone.

Shiro watched as Keith walked out of the room and shook his head. He sometimes still couldn’t believe that was the same Keith who used to get into fights at the Garrison. If he had helped Keith reach this level of maturity in any way, he was proud. 

“Keith, I was wondering if you wanted to have dinner with my family and me tonight.”

He watched as Hunk approached Keith and asked to spend their last night together. Sure, he’d been missing some things, but he wasn’t blind. Things between Hunk and Keith had been slowly edging in the romantic direction for some time now and Shiro was happy for him, for them. 

Keith’s back was to him so he couldn’t see the expression, but Shiro imagined Keith had been pretty surprised. 

Hunk bit his lip and was quickly back-tracking, “I mean, you should invite Krolia and Kolivan. I think it would be nice for them to have a normal family dinner while we still can.” 

Part of Shiro wanted to go help them, but it was better if they figured things out on their own. Hopefully, Hunk would have seen that Keith’s surprise was a good thing. Either way, that dinner would be good for Keith and his family. He doubted Keith ever had a real family dinner that he could remember. Shiro got so caught up in his thoughts, that he almost didn’t see Lance cross his path. It was like everything froze for a moment and then started up again in slow motion. There it was, his window of opportunity could close as soon as he lost sight of Lance. 

Keith had started it, he posed the question and now Shiro couldn’t get it out of his head.  _ If this was truly my last day on Earth, I’d want to spend it with Lance. I hate that I hardly get to see him anymore.  _ Before he even realized it, he was already calling out to the other male. “Hey Lance, wait up!” 

Lance turned around and gave Shiro as smile that made his heart ache. “What’s up, Captain?” 

That ‘captain’ was supposed to be taken as teasing, but in Shiro’s perspective, it only pointed out the distance between them. “Stop it. It’s still weird to hear you say that.” 

“I know, but isn’t it kind of cool? I think it’d be awesome to be a leader like that. Having everyone look up to you and depend on you.” Lance smiled at him, but there was a far away look in his eyes. Shiro knew Lance had always wanted people to know his name, to be a hero and being a defender of universe was everything Lance was always meant to be. He also knew that Lance had always looked up to him, even now when they were basically equals. 

“I’m still getting used to being in charge of this many people. Anyway, I was wondering if you wanted to do something tonight? It’s our last night on Earth and Keith reminded me that even I need a break.” 

Shiro watched Lance’s eyes light up with some kind of mixture of realization and excitement. “Yeah! That’d be cool.” 

“Do you know somewhere we could go and talk, just the two of us?” 

“There’s this park by my parents’ place where we could go. It’d be a nice night for a walk.” 

“Sure, sounds good. I’ll meet you there at 7?” 

“Okay! I’ll text you the address and I’ll see you then.” Lance ran off and seemed so excited. 

Shiro’s heart couldn’t help but hope it was for the same reason he felt. He asked with the connotation of a date, but maybe Lance didn’t see it that way. He knew Lance looked up to him and maybe that was reason for his excitement. He hoped that suspicion was wrong.

* * *

 

The once fruitful park, was now close to barren because of all the destruction that had happened to Earth. Lance looked up at the tree branches as they walked, the only sound between them was their footsteps on the cobblestones beneath them. Shiro wondered if Lance was imagining this place as it had once been, the trees full of large green leaves and alight with lightning bugs in the late summer. At least now they could see the stars, but those stars held such a different meaning to both of them now. This was Shiro’s moment and he couldn’t even make the words leave his throat as if there was something physically stopping him from speaking. He couldn’t even remember the last time they were even alone together. 

“This place used to be so beautiful. In my head, it seemed like a better idea, a nice spot to talk.” Lance broke the silence and they stopped at the tree in the center of the park. “My siblings and I used to climb this tree when we were young. My mom was so angry with us when Veronica fell and broke her arm. ‘You’re her brothers! You were supposed to be looking after her’.” Lance paused and chuckled at the memory. “But Veronica always said she could take care of herself.” 

“It holds special memories for you, Lance, so it’s still the perfect spot.” 

Lance finally turned and looked at him, his eyes were wide in shock. It could have been Shiro’s imagination or his projected feelings, but Lance seemed to be seeing him in a whole new light. “Shiro…” He breathed and almost couldn’t finish his question, “why did you want to spend your last night with me?” 

Shiro’s heart felt frozen in his chest for a moment before kicking into overdrive. This was it. When Lance turned those ernest, cerulean eyes his way, Shiro couldn’t even think of lying to him. “I hate that we don’t see each other anymore. As much as I love having a place as a captain and leader again, I miss being the leader of Voltron. I know now that it was always supposed to Keith’s place, but we were a team. You all became my family.” 

“Keith couldn’t have became the leader he is now without your guidance and example. Just because it’s his place now doesn’t mean you can’t be upset about it. I miss having you as Voltron’s black paladin too.” 

Hearing those words warmed Shiro’s heart and he was glad to have someone reassure him. To say that his feelings were valid and he had more confidence to continue. “After Adam and I broke up, I shut myself off from feeling any sort of romantic feelings. I thought Adam and I were going to get married, but in the end, the relationship wasn’t right. We wanted different things. He wanted to protect me and I wanted nothing more than to explore space. I pushed away any romantic feeling that I had since then because I couldn’t go through that again.” 

“Shiro,” Lance interrupted him before he could continue. “I can’t even begin to understand what that must have been like, but you deserve to be happy now. Adam would want you to be happy.” 

Lance just couldn’t stay quiet when Shiro, or any of the people he cared about were hurting. That trait had always been Shiro’s favorite thing about him. Lance was never afraid of putting himself out there and let his emotions flow like a river, free and unrestricted. Well, he supposed there were some things that Lance hid, but he never let his insecurities weigh him down for long. He voiced them and wasn’t afraid to rely on others to help him. And when others needed it, Lance would build them up in such a genuine, encouraging way. 

“I’m starting to realize that. If tonight is really our last night to be like this, I don’t want to hold anything back. I know you don’t think I noticed your growth and accomplishments as part of our team, but I always have. I’m proud of you and Keith wasn’t the only one who had great potential. I believe you could be a great leader. The way you encouraged Allura when she first started as a Paladin was incredible. I’ve never seen anything like it.” 

Shiro paused and took a deep breath before continuing, “Lance, somewhere along the way, I fell in love with you.” 

As those three words left his lips, Shiro watched tears well up in Lance’s eyes. He wasn’t sure what the other was feeling and he could only guess what those tears could mean. Lance seemed relieved, as if he could finally stop trying so hard or stop holding back. Then he saw it, one by one those words were received and then comprehended. 

“Shiro, back at the Garrison you had been my hero. You passed the pilot course in record time and you were the youngest pilot to lead a mission to Kerberos. I wanted to be just like you and I also wanted you to notice me. Then we found the blue lion with everyone and became paladins. Finally, you knew who I was and we became part of the same team.” Lance shook his head and wiped the tears from his eyes. 

“All this time I thought I was chasing after you, knowing you never see me, but you did. I love you too.” 

Shiro barely waited for Lance to finish his confession before he pulled him into his arms. He never thought he’d ever get the chance to feel this way again. Now Lance was here, he accepted his confession and reciprocated it. Shiro was done waiting. Their lips crashed together and the kiss was sweet relief. He now understood Lance’s tears, they didn’t need to pretend anymore. This was real and they didn’t need to hide their feelings anymore. 

“Lance…” Shiro whispered his name as they parted, still breathless from the kiss, “whatever happens, wherever we end up after this war, will you be with me?”

“I’d follow you across the universe. I mean, I already did, but I’ll do it again and again.” 

“Then it’s a promise.” Shiro didn’t know what would happen tomorrow when they waged war on Haggar, but he couldn’t worry about that now. He wouldn’t. Nothing could steal this moment away from him. He’d remember this day forever. The emptiness that had made a home in his heart was finally filled. Shiro could finally heal and become whole again. 


End file.
